The Runway Can Come to You: Attend Norma Kamali’s Fashion Week Presentation via the Magic of Sykpe

Exciting news…the runway is not only in New York, Milan, Paris, or London. The Fashion Runway can actually now come to all of us via the magic of the Internet and Skype. Skype is that wonderful invention that allows you to connect from your PC to anywhere. Norma Kamali is inviting all fashion fans to enter into a contest from her Facebook page to win a front row seat at her Fashion Week show. The lucky winner will have the opportunity to ask Norma a question about the collection plus, they will receive a famous Norma Kamali “all-in-one” garment prior to the show. Here’s what you need to do to enter. Simply, leave a message for the designer on her Facebook page (you’ll have to becoming a friend of Norma Kamali collection to leave the message). In your message explain why you want to be the virtual front row at her fashion show. Check the NK Collection Facebook page to see the contest rules and entry instructions there. When you enter, you’ll see my message already posted there for easy reference 🙂 There’s one catch to note, you must enter before Sept. 12 at 3:00 pm EST to be eligible.

I think this idea of bringing the runway to the masses via the Internet is brillant. In days of old, Paris was the epicenter of fashion. Only the most elite and wealthy could afford a trip to Paris to witness the new collections at Fashion Week. Twice yearly manufacturers, journalists and American designers would make the trip to Paris to view the collections. The ideas and designs would come from Paris to the world via various imitations and “interpretations “of those collections. New York Fashion Week came about only as the result of journalists and manufacturers not being able to travel to Paris during World War II to see the collections. Today, many people don’t realize that New York Fashion Week was an innovation borne of wartime necessity. Now, the Recession is bringing us new innovation as designers like Norma Kamali bring the runway to all of us. For those of us who can’t afford a trip to NY, now there is technology like Skype, FashionTV, Twitter and the blogosphere to bring us the most recent pictures and fashions in real-time. The runway comes to us in real-time via Twitter and Twitterpic.

Another designer who has been sharing his fashion news via Facebook is Clairborne’s John Bartlett. You can view his Spring 2010 collection on his Facebook page. John will be participating in Fashion’s Night Out and Tim Gunn will be stopping by. Here’s the invitation. But remember, if you can’t get to NY to see his collection, you can view it all on his Facebook page. His collections truly are accessible and affordable.

Pictured: Join Clairborne’s John Bartlett and Project Runway’s Time Gun for Fashion’s Night Out, Sept. 10

I wonder, did Coco Chanel forsee the days of the virtual runway when she said, “Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road.” And now fashion is on the web, the Twittersphere and the Blogosphere. Even Coco’s amazing designs are there.

Pictured: Chanel’s Little Black Dress from the Internet exhibit at the MetMuesum.org